Bread and Butter
by ShatteredRhapsody
Summary: AU Rogue teams up with an older friend at the Institute and gets convinced to steal something more valuable to the Guild of Thieves than anything they have ever stolen. Romy, Jean-LucOC
1. Prologue

_Prologue_

It was all sweat, speed, and the ruthless slap of flesh on flesh. What was left of her night gown was in tattered remains on the ground, inches away from the man pinning her to the wall. Eyes wild with passion, she locked her lips onto his and swallowed his groan as her nails dug painfully into his back.

"Chere," he growled the warning against her throat, teeth nipping and bruising the skin there. Her nails had journeyed down his back and were currently tearing apart his pants; as soon as they fell to his ankles, her smooth, endless legs wrapped around his waist and she ground her body against his. "Mon _Dieu_!" Grabbing the backs of her thighs, he swung her around and pinned her to the bed, his eyes seething while hers twinkled with mischief.

"More, more," she panted against his chest, her hands squeezing and groping every inch of his skin that she could get a hold of. "Let go, Master Thief." She pushed him back and knelt on his bed, hair disheveled and tumbling past her shoulders. "Learn a_ real_ rush," her index finger at her bottom lip, she purred and tilted her head to the side, eyes burning with a seductive "come hither" gleam in them.

Feeling positively feral, he pounced on her soft, waiting flesh. He was going to eat her alive.

* * *

Rogue looked at Remy in their bed and buried her face in his chest. "Oh, lawd...now Ah'm really wishin' they nevah met."

Remy LeBeau chuckled and kissed his lover's temple, "Now, cherie, if dey hadn' met, I never would've got'en t' see y' again."

"Ah know, sugar. Ah just wish they'd keep it down some."


	2. A Typical Morning

"CHARLIE!"

Logan's roar across the mansion woke up half its residents.

One of which, was sitting at the kitchen counter, eating a bowl of Wheaties. Charlie chuckled into her bowl of cereal. Please, she hadn't spent the past twenty years of her life stealing to just wipe her slate clean and _not_ take at least one thing from the X-Men's esteemed and rowdy leader. Pssh. Just who did they think she was, anyway?

"Aw, Chawlette, it's too earleh in the mawnin' f' this." Rogue yawned and stumbled towards the coffee pot. "What'd ya take this tahme?" She tried to glare at the new resident, but with less than six hours of sleep, she found it a little difficult.

"Nothin' much, darlin'. You know I can't help myself. If he didn't want it to go missing, he shouldn't have left it out for someone like little ol' me to take." She honestly couldn't help it; being a kleptomaniac since childhood was tough to deal with. So instead of fighting her 'disability' she chose to work with it. It would have worked perfectly if she hadn't got caught six months ago. Luckily, Xavier bailed her out and offered her a home and a job.

Her grass green eyes went from human to slit like a cat's in a second. "Hm, time to go." Finishing her cereal, she dumped it in the sink and leapt away from the counter just a half-second before Wolverine cracked the granite countertop with his fist.

"Charlie," he snarled, "you stay outta my room and out of my drawers!" He glared down at her crouched position on the floor. He cursed the fact that she was one of the handful of mutants with animal instincts who was able to use them to the best of her ability. He wanted to smack that grin off her face when she raised a fist and brushed her cheek.

"Ooh, is Logan embarrassed that I discovered the truth? It's what you get for not answering my question last night."

"What question?" Rogue asked, morbidly curious now that she had a hunch to which drawer Charlotte got her sticky fingers into.

"Boxers or briefs?" With a wild laugh, Charlie ducked under Logan's jab. Dropping down low, she grabbed his knees and slid right under and between his legs. Arching her body, she sprang back to her feet and twisted to leap onto his shoulders, using her weight plus gravity to force him face-first to the floor. "Nyah, nyah. Wolvie can't catch me." She taunted before she was forced to the air by some unseen force.

"Charlotte, it's five a.m. in the morning. Stop picking on Logan and do something more productive, please." Jean Grey was only up early for one reason: soccer practice. And if she had to be up at an unholy hour, it better be for that one reason.

"Sorry, Red." Even in the air, Charlie could strike a catty pose. "Hey, I'll make it up to ya! Wanna learn how to avoid slide tackles without using powers?"

Logan grabbed Charlie by the ankle and forcibly yanked her down. "Oh, no. You're not going to teach the kids how to cheat. Red, practice out back. Rogue, Danger Room session with me—"

"It's not _cheating_ if she doesn't get caught!"

"—and _Charlie_ will be returning my property A.S.A.P."

* * *

**A/N: I'm going to do this one in bits and pieces. I'm pretty short on time lately. But yes, Charlotte's mutation is pretty much like Catwoman's. Kleptomaniac, instincts, and sick humor in one package. But a quick summary of Charlotte:**

**Age: 38  
Height: 5'6"  
Hair color: brown/red  
Eye color: light green  
Past: Started stealing at 15, never stopped until recently. Kind of. **


	3. Family Life

**A/N: Well at least this story got some reviews. Yay!**

"If all the raindrops were lemon drops and gumdrops, oh what a rain that would be…"

It was raining today; sprinkling, really. But it didn't matter, Charlotte hated the rain. It made her lazier than anything; which was a bad thing when Logan insisted she spar with Scott in ten minutes.

_Lame sauce,_ she sighed heavily as she shoved Rogue and Kurt off her legs. They were playing video games all morning and the two siblings had fallen asleep on her. She'd never admit it out loud, but she loved them like they were her own. It could have been Kurt's eccentricity or maybe even Rogue's "get the hell away from me before I knock you unconscious" attitude. Either way, she was quite fond of them. Kissing both their temples—she kissed Rogue's hair—she quietly padded away from the teenagers with a frown, "Standing outside with my mouth open wide…Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah."

Heading up to Scott's room to remind him of their scheduled training, she paused when a though hit her. Mumbling under her breath, she tried not to chuckle. "If all the raindrops were knives and daggers, oh what a rain that would be. Standing outside with my mouth open wide…Ack!" She mimed the motion of one being struck by falling knives and daggers.

Jamie had been on his way downstairs to get a snack when he heard Charlotte singing. That last part nearly made him tumble down the stairs from laughing so hard. Ever since she came to the Institute, her twisted sense of humor brightened up the mansion. Especially since Scott could be such a downer.

"Like, oh my god, I like, need new clothes!" Kitty stomped out of her room and nearly crashed into Charlotte if she hadn't phased through her. It took her a second to realize that she phased through flesh and blood. "Charlotte! I'm like, so sorry!"

Charlie had to blink a bit; that felt _so_ weird. "It's okay, Kitty. What's the problem this time?" There was always something going on with this girl.

"I don't half enough allowance money to buy new clothes. And there's a _sale_ today!" Kitty looked ready to cry. Shopping was her holy grail, after all.

The older woman considered letting Kitty borrow her Black card, but she got the feeling just this one teenager could max it out. But maybe…

"Kitty, calm down, darlin'. I know a _better_ place to go shopping." At her words, the younger girl perked up instantly and was practically vibrating with excitement. Charlie had to laugh, "Come with me, darlin'. You can go shopping in my closet."

Kitty's squeal was on such a high frequency that Charlie was sure that hers and Wolverine's ears were about to bleed.

* * *

After making Kitty more cheerful, Charlie actually felt in the mood enough to beat Scott Summers into the ground. Practically skipping to Scott's room now, she kicked down his door and bellowed, "UP AND AT 'EM SCOTTY BOY!"

It was amusing, to say the least, that Cyclops jumped off his bed in surprise, which caused his shades to fly off and his laser eyes to put a new sky light through the ceiling.

"Whoo, boy. Logan ain' gonna be happy patching that one up," she could only giggle as he put his shades back on and pointed an accusing finger in her direction.

"Have you _never_ heard of knocking?" God, he wanted to hit her. It took him a minute to register that he could. "You woke me up because of the sparring session, didn't you?"

"Hm, possibly. You're running late by the way." With that, she bolted from his room.

"CHARLIE!"

Ah, another typical day.


	4. The Tipping Point

**A/N: What happened to the reviews? Pity.**

Today's lesson was about using your surroundings to your advantage. Charlie was good at that and didn't mind annihilating Scott just to teach him _that_ particular lesson. She wore her typical version of the X-Men uniform, but the leather suit was cut off at mid-thigh and was continued on by thigh-high black leather boots. She wore dark blue open-fingered gloves that show-cased her opaque claw-like nails and her nearly floor-length redwood colored hair was tied up in a messy bun.

"You ready boyo?" She stood atop a jungle gym; the Danger Room had simulated a playground, and would continue to simulate places until Scott was either "dead" or the hour and a half mark was up. Usually, an hour and a half session with Ororo or Hank was pretty tame; with Logan, someone was sure to wake up extremely sore the following day. With Charlie, however, a lesson like this could mean anything. After all, it was only her first one-on-one session.

"Bring it on, Charlie." Scott Summers lived for his pride, especially after the lecture Logan gave him after he saw what he had done to the ceiling. He set his visor to stun and zapped at the jungle gym, eyes furiously trying to follow Charlie's movement as she dove, ducked, bent, dipped, and swung all over the metal construct. _Damn,_ he thought to himself, _at least Logan is straightforward when he defends himself._

"Ya gotta try harder than that to catch me, Scotty." Charlie taunted until his laser eyes upped the danger level in the blasts. One of the blasts all but obliterated the jungle gym.

Good.

* * *

Up in the Observing Room, Charles Xavier smiled, "This is exactly what the students needed, Logan. Yes, you teach them self defense, but even you say they can't think on their feet."

"That's because they're teenagers, Chuck. They're too occupied with trying not to get hurt so—"

"—they can't focus on anything else they should pay attention to. Yes, I know." The Professor finished for him as they watched Charlotte launch herself up using the blast and used the flying bits of metal bars from the jungle gym to both deflect and attack Scott. When she had all but ran out of ammunition, she slid a jagged, broken piece of metal into her boot, and purposely took a blast from Cyclops. As she flew back towards the playground slide, she tucked her body into a ball, then used her heels to slam into the slide, her knees bent as she used the momentum to propel herself forward.

Both Charles and Logan knew this wasn't really an obvious attack by her, but Scott didn't know that. Preparing to hit her once more, he didn't notice that she removed the broken bar from the top of her boot and threw it with deadly accuracy so that it caught the material of his uniform above his shoulder so that it forced him onto his back.

This of course meant an uncontrolled blast of laser vision went shooting up into the ceiling once more.

"Insult to injury," Logan muttered as he recalled what had happened only twenty minutes previous.

_~Flashback~_

"_Dammit Scott! It's bad enough Cannonball tore apart the kitchen, but I don't need this right now!" Logan was snarling in frustration as the younger man went from hanging his head down in shame to snapping it back up with a glare._

"_It's not my fault, Logan! Charlie made me—"_

"_That's no excuse and you know it. Use your brain that you always try to convince me you have, bub, then I'll believe you. If you want a chance to get back at her, be at the Danger Room in five minutes."_

_~End Flashback~_

The kid never stood a chance now that he looked at it. Charlotte had a hell of a lot more experience in improvising scenarios and options to fight back and survive. He had to keep reminding himself that she was, no matter how she acted, twenty years older than the teenagers he tried to teach.

* * *

The simulation changed again, and they were on a barge. In the middle of a hurricane. Who set these simulations up anyway?

Feeling the rain pelt down on her, Charlie inwardly cursed. Rain made her sluggish and everyone in the mansion knew that. _Time to re-think the strategy, old girl._ Dropping to all fours, she focused on finding her balance despite the sever wind and rocking of the ship. For some reason, as she tried to focus, the song the Cha Cha Slide started playing in her head. This was oddly convenient because it helped her find the rhythm of the storm.

"Slide to the left," she mumbled as Scott go to his feet and ran at her, this time relying on hand-to-hand combat instead of his mutation. "Slide to the right," She sprang back and away from a kick that could have snapped her head back. "One hop this time," Charlie jumped right where that low kick could have knocked her off her center of balance, "Two hops this time!" she yelled as she grabbed his forearms and lifted herself up, then hopped up on his shoulders to jump for a stack of boxes just behind him.

She then proceeded to Cha-Cha atop the boxes and laughed at Cyclops's stunned expression. "What's wrong, One Eye? Ya never have fun during a session before?" Chuckling, she leapt from the box and dove for his legs.

Finally wising up a little, Scott dodged and fought back. "The Danger Room simulations aren't a game! They're suppose to prepare us for real life situations—"

"—which can also be _fun_." She countered back as she dropped to her knees in front of him and pinched at his hips, giggling when he yelped in surprised pain. Somersaulting back, she bounced excitedly and playfully clawed the air in front of her. "And there's nothing like dancing to get the blood moving."

"I swear it's like you don't even know what you're talking about! You're supposed to be a _teacher_ and you act like…like a child!" Scott was done with being her play-toy today. "It's like you live to humiliate us here, which is to be expected I guess of a _thief_." He spat out the last word as if it tasted rancid on his tongue. "You do immature things like steal Logan's boxers—" Up with the Professor, Logan coughed. "—and you purposely like getting the others in trouble with your littlepranks with our mutations!"

Charlotte went completely still at his words. The brat had completely missed the point of all her "adventures" at the Institute. Taking a deep breath, she exhaled slowly and recalled her previous abilities to call attention to the predator she had once been.

"You want to know _why_ I did those things." Behind the visor, Scott's eyes widened in shock when Charlie's own eyes split into her usual cat-like irises. Her tone was no longer her usual purr, but this time, her growl reverberated in her chest and spilled out her lips into an angry snarl. "You're a foolish child, Scott Summers. I may not be the best teacher here, but that's because my methods are different than Logan's or Ororo's." Tensing her muscles, she sprang at him with an uppercut so unexpected, Scott saw stars.

"I stole Logan's underwear because think about this for a moment," She kicked his shoulder blade and he yelled in pain, "If it's that easy for _me_ to get into Logan's room, what will happen when an enemy gets into _your_ room. The lack of security _inside_ the Institute is frankly disgusting. Your doors practically have a 'Please Kill Me' sign hanging from them." She punched him in the gut and viciously kicked his ribs to send him sprawling. "Another thing is, your mutations can be used against you. What do you think will happen if your shades go missing and you completely lose the ability to shut your eyes? What happens when something startles Kitty so that she can't hold her breath while she's phasing through a wall? What will happen to Rogue if she absorbs someone with suicidal depression?"

"But those things don't happen," Scott coughed as he held his side in agony, "not in the real world."

"Then you're living in a fantasy world. The Professor's vision for peace doesn't include ignorance."

* * *

Dinner that night was beyond awkward. Everyone had heard about what happened down in the Danger Room and there was a rumor that Charlie was getting fired for going too far. What they didn't know, however, was that it was Scott who had gone too far. The young man who was supposed to be their leader completely relied on his prejudices and forgot to look for the deeper meaning; something the Professor constantly lectured them all not to do.

As Logan sat down at the head of the table—Chuck and Charlie were having a discussion in his office—he decided it was best to explain just what went down before the students blew things out of proportion.

"I'm sure you all know what happened today, but let me set things straight. Cyclops flew off his handle and didn't think clearly. Yeah, the kid messed up, but all of you mess up on a daily basis and learn to accept it."

"But, like, Mr. Logan," Kitty nervously raised her hand from her seat, "Charlie really hurt him."

Rogue and Kurt were on their feet in a heartbeat. "He tried ta hurt 'er first!" It was true since she asked Kurt to help her view the session after it happened.

"Mein schweister is right! He vould have killed her!"

"But she's, like, a former killer!"

"So was Wolverine!"

"ENOUGH!" Logan shouted, suddenly remembering why he sometimes hated his job. "This is _exactly_ why Scott got in trouble. He let his prejudices lead him on, _which is just what you are doing._" He waited for them to all gawk at him before they fell silent and sank down into their seats. "Now, the Professor is talking with Charlie right now about what her options are. I can't blame her for being offended by hypocrites who claim to fight for Chuck's dream; not after today."

_Hypocrite._ That word stung them all; they had all been that person. The one to yell the word without realizing the consequences beyond such negativity.

Somewhere down the hall, a door slammed. They all jumped as they heard Storm beg, "Please don't go, Charlie. They are young and have yet to grow, to mature. They can learn from their mistakes—"

"Well they clearly ain' learnin' fast enough, darlin'. Why should I stick around for snot-nosed brats who can't appreciate something without criticizing it first?" It was true. She couldn't take the atmosphere anymore, not when it was ready to drive her up a freaking wall.

Ororo knew her friend had decided long before she tried to stop her. "Well if you're going to go, at least let me know where you're going. I'd like to keep in touch."

"'m going to N'Awlins, Ro. I need the excitement of the city, and the lullaby of the bayou. I'll write to you, I promise."

"I have…friends there. I'm sure they'll take you in and help you out if you need anything."

"Thanks, Ro. I'll think about it, 'kay? You tell my kids I love 'em, alright?"

"Oh, Charlotte, they'll be heartbroken without you…"

"I know they will. But Logan will keep 'em in line. Time for me to go."

The front door opened and a taxi was waiting for her. She furiously wiped the tears from her eyes and stepped in, "To the nearest Greyhound Station, please."


	5. Homecoming

There was a time when Charlotte would have given anything to fight for something to believe in. The first time she had tried, hadn't end all that well. So she turned to a life of thievery and deception. The second time she tried to believe in something led her straight back to where she started: thievery and deception.

Was it wrong that she spiked the poor man's drink with dissolving sleeping pills? Of course not! He had no right to hold onto a chalice that pretty! And shiny. It sparkled. Yay!

Mentally slapping herself silly, Charlotte stuffed the chalice into the small backpack and knelt beside the sleeping man. "Sorry, darlin', but I want this more than you do." With a savage boot to the head, she giggled and leapt out the window, body twisting into a perfect swan dive before curling into a roll at the last second before she hit the ground. "Whew! I'm getting a little old for this," she cracked her back and sprang back onto her feet.

"Aide! Aide! Le patron n'est pas éveillé!"

"Uh oh," she muttered as she scaled the one of the buildings in the alleyway, using the fire escapes to help vault herself onto the rooftop. "Time to go home."

"LOURDES!"

* * *

"Momma's home, darlin's," Charlotte called to the gators on her front lawn and affectionately patted the tail of Raul, her favorite gator. His response was to snap his jaws in welcome before he rolled over to sunbathe. "Gemma! Mirabeth! Where's Momma's hello?" All she got were two irritable growls before she was tackled by monstrously sized gators. "Ack! Too much love! Off ya damn dogs!" Laughing, she shoved them aside and patted their heads.

Charlotte's home was on the edge of Blood Moon Bayou, completely across the swamp from the Guild of Assassin's home base. They stayed far away from her side, due to the amount of gators that inhabited the area. That, and Ol' Man Gator was a legend amongst the locals and the fact that he was real made her feel just a little bit better. Outsiders weren't allowed 'round their home.

After all, who would look past the shack on the shore and walk a ways down the off-beaten path to Tante Carolyn's manor. And speaking of Tante Carolyn…

"Chawlette Lawdes, y' git in 'ere and say 'ello t' ya Tante!"

"Senile ol' bat," Charlotte muttered and dropped her bags at the front door. Damn, but did she need some sleep. But she dare not tempt her Tante into using the rolling pin on her for not greeting her properly.

Tante Carolyn was a frail looking woman with a nearly endless mane of white hair that was tied into a haphazard bun atop her head and a bronze tan that would make starlets in Hollywood gaze at her with envy. She was wearing a faded yellow sundress with a polka-dotted white and blue apron and white house slippers. Her eyes were a darker shade of green than Charlotte's and resembled more like an alligator's eyes versus a cat's. Then again her mutation allowed her to communicate and bond with the gators in the bayou, making her home a safe refuge to raise wayward mutant children.

Running into her Tante's arms, Charlotte breathed in the sandalwood and jasmine scent that she associated with her caretaker. "Tante, I ne'er shoulda left home." She mumbled into the apron and relished the feel of her Tante running her hand through her hair.

"Come now, chile. You go an' take a bat' an' Tante will brush ya 'air jus' like ol' times."

After her bath, Charlotte bawled her eyes out after Tante Carolyn asked her why she came back home. Tante Carolyn's advice was to go out and party her troubles away. Such a loving aunt. "Ya need t' go out an' do sometin' wild f' a change. Go an' have fun."

* * *

So there she was, doll'd up to the max and sitting at the bar nursing a bottle of Jack Daniels. But Lord, did she pick a shady bar to hang out in this night. Half the people there were from the Guilds; they just had the vibe she remembered last time she was in town. Rumor had it that they were about to go to war with each other…again.

Pouring herself a shot, she downed it after murmuring, "Nothin' e'er changes round here." Closing her eyes, she listened for the hum of hushed whispers across the room. Hopefully, she'd be able to find something new to borrow from some unsuspecting buffoon.

"…Guild of Assassin's chalice went missing. Apparently, some young upstart thought it would be a good idea to get it shined and ended up going missing at the cleaning place."

Charlotte forced herself not to react and calmly poured herself another shot. No wonder the cup was so pretty; she'd have to keep that to herself for now.

"Poor place to keep the chalice so unprotected. They say it was Lourdes who took it."

"_Hell,_ Lourdes is back?"

_Must not giggle into shot glass, must not giggle into shot glass_. She repeated the words like a mantra to keep herself focused. Good thing the tab she had at the bar was under Tante Carolyn's surname: Bealieu.

Garcon, the bartender, kept shooting her amused glances which she returned with a saucy wink. Chuckling, he personally poured a shot of the whiskey into her glass. "Ya are playin' a dangerous game, Sha."

Raising her glass to salute him, she smiled. "It ain' fun if there's no danger, darlin'. Now excusez-moi, mais I see me some fine Cajun meat." She laughed as Garcon coughed and glared at her; she had said that last part as he was taking a drink of water.

* * *

"_Merde!"_

She giggled as the Thieves Guild patriarch tripped over the doormat in an effort to get inside the apartment faster. God, he was the perfect mark for a fellow thief. Nothing was better than stealing from a Master Thief! She chuckled as he pulled her to the ground with him and kicked the door shut.

"Chere," he growled into her neck as he caressed her curves, "ya are a 'azard t' my 'ealth." Jean-Luc was sober enough not to bring her to his real home, but getting her to his home away from home was another story. She had picked a fight with an Assassin before throwing him out the bar window. And since she happened to be buying him a drink at the time, the younger Rippers assumed she was with him so by proxy, the fight was his fault.

So unfair.

**A/N: I'm probably going to re-write the whole story when it's done…I'm not even trying at this point. u.u;**


	6. Mother Knows Best

_Mother Knows Best…_

**A/N: After watching the movie Tangled, I thought of Rogue and how she was being used by Mystique. So a quick disclaimer: I don't own X-Men Evolution or songs from the movie Tangled. All I own is Charlotte and Tante Carolyn. **

**Dedicated to Faith, who wanted to see Rogue's point of view.**

Rogue knew that the mother figures in her life weren't quite the motherly type. What with one being blind, the next being a manipulative terrorist who hated humans with a passion, and the current one also being a criminal. She supposed she just attracted psycho and delusional mother figures. And it didn't help that two of them claimed to know what was best for her.

And when her mutation manifested, asking to go outside made her feel a lot like Rapunzel who was locked away in a lonely tower. Only Rogue's lonely tower was a house filled with depressing as hell mother figures.

_You want to go outside? Oh, why Rapunzel?_

"Ah wanted t' be free," Rogue mumbled under her breath as she watched her classmates play in the swimming pool where she could never join them. Too much of her skin would have to be bared.

_Look at you as fragile as a flower  
Still a little sapling just a sprout  
you know why we stay up in this tower  
(I know but)  
that's right to keep you safe and sound dear_

God above, she would have given anything to be free of the routine. The endless training as a ballerina which she knew was a different training so she could bend herself around laser sensors or move silently across the floor to remain undetected.

_Guess I always knew this day was coming  
Knew that soon you'd want to leave the nest  
Soon, but not yet  
(But!)  
Shh trust me pet  
Mother knows best_

Destiny had convinced her it was the outside world that made her go blind, that everything outside was too dangerous for Rogue to experience. You know, like hijacking a plane and incapacitating men twice her size. Clearly too dangerous.

_Mother knows best  
Listen to your mother  
It's a scary world out there_

It wasn't like that the few times she snuck outside to enjoy the warmth of a summer breeze.

_Mother knows best  
One way or another  
Something will go wrong I swear_

And something did go wrong. She put another boy in a coma just by bumping into him. She was so horrified that she ran home and screamed through the front door before Mystique could scold her.

_Ruffians, thugs  
Poison ivy, quicksand  
Cannibals and snakes…the plague!  
(No!)  
Yes  
(But!)_

Rogue absently scratched at her arms, remembering the one time Mystique took her camping—coughcombattrainingcough—and she slipped from the path into a patch of poison ivy. She remembered getting slapped for mumbling that Mystique resembled poison ivy.

_Also large bugs  
Men with pointy teeth and  
Stop, no more, you'll just upset me_

_Mother's right here  
Mother will protect you  
Darling here's what I suggest_

Her first mission.

_Skip the drama  
Stay with Mama  
Mother knows best_

How she managed to hide that particular memory from the Professor, she had no idea. But she had killed. She was ten years old, and she killed a full grown man. A man who had a wife and newborn twins. A man who Mystique told her was dangerous to their kind when really, he was trying to make it known that all mutants weren't evil. Years had passed and Rogue still didn't know what Mystique was trying to accomplish.

_Go ahead, get trampled by a rhino  
Go head, get mugged and left for dead  
Me, I'm just your mother, what do I know?  
I only bathed and changed and nursed you_

And then Charlie came along, and shattered her memories of what kind of "mothers" she had. She had discovered her and Kurt's issues and solved them her style.

_Go ahead and leave me, I deserve it  
Let me die alone here, be my guest  
When it's too late, you'll see, just wait  
Mother knows best_

According to Charlie, Rogue and Kurt didn't owe "jack-shit" to Mystique because she was a disgrace to mothers everywhere. And they should have left her to die instead of trying to renew their familial bonds with her.

_Don't forget it  
You'll regret it  
Mother knows best_

Charlie took Mystique's place as she should have been. She convinced Rogue to go shopping with her, and even asked Kurt how his dates with Amanda went. She even went as far as running her hands through their hair soothingly when the stress became too much for both of them. She whispered goodnight at their doors before the lights went out, and she was always first to greet them in the mornings. She was even as fierce as a mother should be when one of the other ignorant kids called Rogue "Poison Touch" behind her back.

Hell, Charlie had beaten the damn kid to a near pulp in a Danger Room session for not having the guts to say it to _her_ kid's face. Never in that moment had Rogue felt so flustered. And when she turned to her brother in confusion, Kurt smiled and said that the feeling she was experiencing was the same he felt when his adoptive parents told him they loved him.

For once in her life, Rogue was loved like she had always wanted to be.

And like always, something Rogue treasured was torn away from her. But not this time. She wasn't raised a Darkholme for nothing. She didn't care if would be against Logan's or the Professor's wishes, but she wanted her mother back. And if it meant calling up an unwilling favor from a sleazy swamp rat to find Charlie, then it was worth the risk.

She even had Kurt's approval since he was the one who kept dropping the hint that she was the best person to chase after Charlie. He had even given her a generous donation of his powers now that she had figured out how to keep the powers of mutants she had previously absorbed.

"Find unsere Mutter and bring her back home, meine schwester.

**A/N: Woo. Yay, another chapter done.**

**Translation:**

**Unsere: our  
Mutter: Mother  
meine: my  
schwester: sister**


End file.
